OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?

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Herdanos
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PostOMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Herdanos » Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:49 am

Straightforward enough really. We almost take astonishing graphical prowess for granted nowadays, so it's rarer for a game to truly take one's breath away, but we've all had that moment (perhaps moreso than once!) particularly those of us a little longer in the tooth, who remember days gone by when the differences between generations seemed far more prominent.

So what was the game that, for you, really made you go 'whoa' when you saw/played it for the first time? Talking purely from a visual point of view (I remember when graphics was the only barometer that mattered :datass: )

For me it was the original Donkey Kong Country on the SNES. It just seemed like a huge leap forward, light years ahead of everything else I'd played. Mario World, Bomberman, even Street Fighter - they all seemed like cartoons at best, but DKC was bordering on photorealism. :shock: Watching DK swim through coral reef was an incredible, genuinely jaw-dropping moment.

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jiggles
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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by jiggles » Thu Mar 03, 2016 9:58 am

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Trelliz » Thu Mar 03, 2016 10:02 am

F-Zero X was definitely one for me. The sheer speed was amazing - although to be fair there was almost nothing there except the track, the ships and the odd triangular building:



Also the first time playing Forza Horizon 2 on Xbone after slumming through the 360 version:



Although the 360 version was pretty impressive in its own way in terms of keeping reasonable feature parity on decade-old hardware.

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Cheeky Devlin » Thu Mar 03, 2016 10:44 am

For me it was a screenshot in an issue of EDGE circa 2000. It was a picture of the Sega CEO at the time sat in front of a wall of Dreamcast boxes. It wasn't until I read the caption and text that went with it I realised it a shot was from inside the Shemue game engine. Admittedly it wasn't a big picture, but still...

Mind-blown.

EDIT: This was it, but again in the magazine it was only the size of a thumbnail.
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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Buffalo » Thu Mar 03, 2016 10:46 am

Because it was my first, the Shiny Entertainment stuff from the Mega Drive era, specifically Aladdin and Earthworm Jim. It was the animation, as well as the visuals.

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Trelliz » Thu Mar 03, 2016 10:48 am

Cheeky Devlin wrote:It wasn't until I read the caption and text that went with it I realised it a shot was from inside the Shemue game engine. Admittedly it wasn't a big picture, but still...


I remember the same with GTA3, Half Life 2 and Doom 3. Each were "holy gooseberry fool it can't get better than this" moments.

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by jiggles » Thu Mar 03, 2016 10:58 am

Formula 1 on PlayStation:
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The only 3D game I'd played before this was Starwing, so seeing textured polygons and alpha effects was pretty mindblowing, but coupling that with the true-to-life TV presentation and Murray Walker's excited commentary pushed me over the edge and it looked real. I did a full length race in Monaco one time and afterwards went down to the living room and couldn't tell if what was on the TV real or computer generated. Never had that since.

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Saint of Killers » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:00 am

Nothing will ever top playing Mega Drive game NHLPA '93 one minute, setting up my newly arrived launch N64 and starting Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.

*mind blown*

Funny thing, though, I still rank NHLPA '93 as an all time classic. Turok, meanwhile... feh.

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Trelliz
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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Trelliz » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:01 am

jiggles wrote:I did a full length race in Monaco one time and afterwards went down to the living room and couldn't tell if what was on the TV real or computer generated. Never had that since.


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Christopher
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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Christopher » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:05 am

twitter.com/ChrisSmithster/status/651105583664361473


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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by jawafour » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:12 am

In pre-historic times, my "whoa" moment was seeing Impossible Mission by Epyx on the C64. The guy's movement animations seemed *real*... the frame-by-frame detailing was incredible :o . I was amazed!

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In more recent times, when I first booted up my new Xbox 360 and played 2K Games' Bioshock I was astounded by the water and fire effects at the beginning of the game. It was just a terrific way to start the journey.

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Saint of Killers » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:15 am

suzzopher wrote:

twitter.com/ChrisSmithster/status/651105583664361473



On similar note...

The bit in UC2 chapter 4, with the blue light. That lighting work was just... :shock:

...

:!:

:mrgreen: I just found a reason to play the UC remasters! I'm gonna screenshot the hell out of it. (720p video wouldn't do it justice.)

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Joer » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:31 am

Mine was Gears of War. It was the first time i'd ever used a HD TV and playing that online just blew me away. I spent countless minutes just looking at the sky and the details before I carried on playing.

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by The Watching Artist » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:32 am

Hmmmm.... Probably loads of moments like this. Like standing in Lake Hylia by the Lab watching the day change. Lylat Wars in N64 mag was another plus I remember the water effects in Banjo being a bit special. Rogue Leader screens in NGC. I mean even now-

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:datass:

Agree with Jawa and the intro to Bioshock. :o I waited and watched the plane sink. Ords screens of The Witcher 3. The GC Resi Evil remake. I watched that footage over and over. Both Xenoblades although this is more due to the scale. Seeing the moon in Dear Esther and more recently I was pretty taken to the visuals of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. I've probably missed loads. :oops:

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by OrangeRKN » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:39 am

Mario Galaxy (this is on /wii/?), Uncharted's wet clothes when running through the jungle at the start, Uncharted 2's snow, The Last of Us opening, Pursuit Force as the first PSP game I played.

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Herdanos
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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Herdanos » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:41 am

I've never played Rogue Leader on GC. I kind of feel like I missed out on one of the biggest 'moments' on Gamecube.

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Rax
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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Rax » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:43 am

The Watching Artist wrote: Rogue Leader screens in NGC. I mean even now-

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:datass:

Definitely Rogue Leader for me, impossible to tell if its game footage or something taken from the movies, incredible visuals.

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by Moggy » Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:49 am

Without going for the obvious games, I had a demo disc (remember them? ;) ) that came with a PS2 magazine. There was a Dungeons and Dragons game demo that I was playing and I was amazed by the water effects. It would probably look crap now, but I had never seen water look like that in a game before.

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The Watching Artist
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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by The Watching Artist » Thu Mar 03, 2016 12:04 pm

Moggy wrote:I had a demo disc (remember them? ;) )

Jawa asks...... what was your favourite demo disc?

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PostRe: OMG DEM GRAFIX! What was your biggest 'whoa' moment for videogame visuals?
by BID0 » Thu Mar 03, 2016 12:09 pm

Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo 3, Rogue Leader, Driveclub


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